A Chance For Faith
by Emcron
Summary: Wufei is a battle hardened soldier. He has fought and killed countless people, but at the expense of a mission, he chooses to fail in order to protect the innocent. Can the power of one little girl make him laugh and feel again? R&R plz!!!
1. Prologue

            He slipped along the dark alley, keeping low to the ground, and sticking to the shadows whenever possible. He glanced down at his timepiece, only thirty minutes left. The designated rendezvous point was very close now. It was a relatively simple mission: Get the OZ defector out, and to the safety of a bunker.

He was arriving well ahead of schedule, and hopefully he could grab the defector and get out before he was missed. He shouldered his small assault rifle and unsheathed his katana, for the footsteps of guards were approaching. He struck like a shadow itself. One moment, the shadows lurched, and a second later, two guards fell, their throats cut. Cruel, brutal, efficient, he relished it. Smiling, he clamored over a fence in the alley and continued onward. Sounds of gunshots in the distance brought him out of his trance, and he moved at a sprint, fearing that the defector had been found out. What he found shocked him.

He peered out from behind an alley corner. OZ soldiers had set up a firing line on the civilians. One by one, they were being shot down. An OZ commander barked at the civilians to tell him something, which they obviously didn't know. Finally, a small girl was brought forward. He froze. His heart skipped a beat. Her pale, blue dress was stained with tears, and a frantic woman was trying to tear herself away from a pair of soldiers to get to her. The girl faced the OZ soldiers without blinking. She was courageous, like his late wife… The man looked down at his timepiece, he had five minutes. He looked up at the girl again. She locked eyes with him. His breath caught in his throat. He couldn't let her die.

He cocked his assault rifle, and before he knew it, he was firing. The OZ soldiers went down quickly, but not without casualties. Frantic civilians were being hit, the girl's mother fell, a bright red spot blossoming above her left breast. The girl ran to her mother's fallen form, and pawed at her dress, tears fell like rivers. His heart went out to her, as he sprinted through the crossfire. He picked up her flailing form in the crook of one arm, and fired his rifle with his other. She screamed and struggled against him, but her strength was nothing compared to his. He whirled around and made a mad dash for the alleyways.

After an eternity, he stopped running. The girl had stopped fighting him, and lay limp in his arm. He made his way to hotel and bought a room. He slipped inside and laid the girl on the bed. He began to peel of his black combat suit, but not before he heard the cocking of a gun. He whirled around, and saw the little girl brandishing a pistol before him.

She sniffled back tears, "Who are you?"

He blinked dumbly at the question. "My name is Wufei"


	2. Daughter of Justice

            For the first time, Wufei stared down the barrel of a gun, and he felt an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time. Fear. The girl, a mere child of ten was staring down a Gundam pilot, and she was showing no fear.

She regarded him with tearstained eyes and cheeks, "Why couldn't you save my mommy?"

Wufei nodded impassively, "I'm sorry, little one. She was beyond my power to help."

She sniffled again, and burst into tears. She buried her face in her hands and tried to stop crying. Strangely, Wufei found his arms going out to her. When he touched her shoulder, she flinched and moved away. He bit his lower lip, and felt her sorrow. She looked up at him, tears pouring freely, and without warning, she came to him. The top of her head was around the height of his middle, and he scooped her up in his arms. He held her head to his shoulder, and felt it. All her anger, all her hate, and all her pain drained out of her like those tears running down his shoulder. He stroked her hair with his hands, and his thoughts drifted to Merian.

Eventually, the crying subsided, and she sat beside him on the bed. She looked up to Wufei hopefully, as though hoping he would say something.

He cleared his throat nervously and said, "Do you have a father, little girl?"

She shook her head side to side.

"Any other family? Brothers, sisters?"

Shake.

"So you are alone?"

Nod.

Wufei let this sink in, and he sat beside her, as she kicked her feet out beside him.

"Faith," she said.

He wrinkled his brow and glanced down at her, "What?"

"My name, its Faith."

"Faith…" He let it sink in. "I am Chang Wufei."

She smiled up at him, and he found himself smiling back. They locked eyes for a second, before Wufei turned to the bathroom door, "I'm going to shower, you make yourself comfortable. You'll stay with me until I can find a home for you."

When Wufei emerged in a sleeping Kimono, he saw her prone form beneath the covers of the bed. Her inky black hair was displayed in a wave across the pillow, and her beautiful amber brown eyes were closed. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically, and he winced, trying not to make a sound. A lone lamp sat in the corner with the light still on. He moved to turn it off, and clicked the button.

"Chang…" she said.

Wufei jumped in a startled way, "Yes Faith?"

"Can I call you Papa?"


	3. Assassin of Justice

            The woman eased herself from her bed sheets, careful not to awaken the sleeping form behind her. Faintly, she could hear the personal computer bleeping that a message had come for her. She wrapped herself in a silken robe and strode over to the computer, her muscles, slender and taut illuminated by the screen's light. She scanned the messages, her eyes adjusting quickly to the sudden light from the computer. It read quite simply:

_            Kill him and retrieve the girl. Word of what happened in the colony must not reach Earth or we're finished. You know what to do. Your payment will come with his head off and hers still attached._

_                                                            ~OZ_

            She smirked. So OZ was hiring her to do their dirty work. They made a major mess of that situation in the colony; they let their prey escape. She wouldn't be so careless when she stalked her quarry. But that could wait, at least until morning. She shed her robe and climbed back into bed, her lover's strong arm wrapped around her waist, his breathing, slow and rhythmic. She smiled to herself. 

"Chang Wufei, you are a dead man." She whispered as she drifted off to sleep.

He awoke to a pair of brown eyes staring down into his. He gave a start and almost leapt from the bed. The little girl grinned at his momentary show of weakness. "Rise and shine, Chang, my do you snore!"

He snorted at her, his hands already pulling his unruly hair into its normal, neat ponytail. "Snore do I? Well, at least I don't go around waking people up at," he glanced at the clock, "7:00 in the morning! It's too early, Faith, let me get some more rest." His hands immediately stopped with his hair and he started to rearrange his sheets.

She tore them off of the bed. "I'm hungry, papa, feed me!"

He narrowed his eyes at her, "And I wonder why Meiran and I decided to have no children…"

She gave a sly grin, "I'm sure I'd be your favorite anyways. I've never had a dad, Chang, giving me food is a good start."

That got him. He clamored out of bed and quickly showered, donning his normal white robes. "Come then, I'm sure there still is breakfast downstairs." They walked down the hall to the elevator, and he pressed the down button. She took his hand in her own, and he almost jumped. No one ever held his hand before…not Meiran…not Treize…not anyone. She just kept smiling, and left him to think about the gesture.

The door opened, and a slender woman came bustling out. She ran into him and pushed her way by. "Excuse me!" She called as she raced down the hall.

Wufei glared after her, "Stupid onna…" he grumbled before entering the elevator and starting down.

At the other end of the hallway, the woman peaked around the corner to be sure he had entered the elevator. She pulled out a small hand-held tracker, and watched as the red blip moved around on the screen. "Now, my pet, you'll never escape me."


	4. The Defender of Faith

            Wufei sipped his herbal tea in silent contemplation as little Faith wolfed down some waffles with strawberries. What could he do now? He couldn't exactly face the Preventers with a little girl in hand and say he failed his mission for her. They would never understand how he felt. How precious this little life could be to someone. Faith finished her waffles and looked up into his onyx eyes. He couldn't suppress a grin. 

"Come, Faith. We shall buy you some new clothes." She squealed with glee and clamored from her seat, taking Wufei's hand in the process. They walked over to the counter to checkout.

"My…daughter and I would like to check out now please."

The slender hotel hostess met his gaze. "Yes sir, you have a message sir. I think it was a 'he', he asked us to give you this number, and call him back. You're all checked out by the way." She handed him a folded sheet of paper with the number on it.

He took it and thanked her politely before walking out the sliding doors with Faith, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

He and Faith began walking down the streets, there was busy traffic everywhere, and walking seemed almost faster than wading through the host of vehicles. Faith skipped along at his side, matching him stride for stride. Soon, the clothing districts came into view. Faith looked to him for approval, and with his nod, she scampered off into the nearest children's department store. Suddenly, his cell phone rang. He looked down at the caller id, and it was the number that the hotel hostess had given him.

He almost hesitantly flipped it open and held it to his ear. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"Nothing more than what you would want, Chang Wufei." A strangely garbled voice said.

"How do you know my name?"

"It doesn't matter, you're in grave danger, Wufei…no, don't look around for me, I'm not the one you should fear, another is watching you."

Wufei tried to look like he was having a normal conversation, but even he couldn't suppress some slight fear. "What must I do?"

"You must get the girl and run to the corner of Silver Street, there is an alley there, I'll be waiting. Be quick, assassins, especially female assassins aren't the most patient of the bunch." With that, the cell phone clicked off. Wufei started with a sprint. Faith was in the middle of trying on a traditional garb that nearly matched his own. Wufei couldn't suppress a grin before hastily paying the cashier and sprinting out of the building, Faith in arms.

"Papa, what's wrong? Why are we running away?"

"There's a bad woman after us Faith, we have to hurry!"

Almost on cue, a bullet whizzed past his ear and tore a small hole in the pavement. Fear lent his legs strength, and he increased his speed, doing random patterns in his running to throw of the sniper's aim. Suddenly, Silver Street was upon them, and the alley. With a last burst of strength, he rounded the corner, and there sat a car, and in it, one he recognized.

"Heero Yuy!?!?"

"In the flesh, more or less, come Wufei, get in the car, we're getting you and the girl out of here."

"Wufei put Faith in the back seat of what appeared to be an upgraded Explorer before getting in the passenger side of the car and turning to Heero. "How did you know she was after me?"

Heero turned his cold, azure gaze on Wufei and said simply, "Wufei…I'm sleeping with the enemy."


	5. Justice Flight

            Wufei stood dumbstruck. "You WHAT?"

            Heero lowered his head and grimaced, "She's my lover, we've been living together for about two months…"

            Wufei was about to fall over, the perfect soldier, the unconquerable Heero Yuy was taken by a woman? By some crazy psycho onna who wanted to kill him now? Whatever happened to Duo?

            Wufei turned to Heero and smirked, "Since when does the great Yuy submit to some onna?"

            Heero's angry glare silenced any further comments.

            Wufei lay back in the seat further, trying to get more comfortable, "Great…just what I need…an assassin who's been sleeping with the perfect soldier after me."

            Heero eyed him slyly, "You know Wufei, it could be worse…"

            "How so?"

            "I could be after you."

            "…Good point."

            They made good time with Heero driving, and shortly after, they cleared the city and were well on their way out of town. Heero explained on the way that he had contacted Quatre and he was assembling the other pilots at his mansion in a small reserve about four hours away from the city. Quatre had assured them that he could keep Faith safe there while they dealt with the assassin. Wufei felt relief like none before, knowing that Faith would be safe under Quatre's watchful gaze. Soon, they came across a small supply depot, and Heero stopped the car and got out.

            "Keep driving Wufei, follow this road and this road only, it will lead you to the reserve and Quatre's mansion. I'm going to head back and try to head her off." With that, the perfect soldier walked off a ways and made a motion. An armed Preventer officer came out from behind a pile in the depot, and Heero and he went into one of the buildings. With a sigh, Wufei got into the driver's seat. Faith was breathing peacefully in the back. Wufei groaned aloud. Why couldn't he rest so peacefully?

            Heero slipped back into the apartment he shared with her, and he shed his over clothes and climbed into the bed, waiting for the moment he knew would come. He couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief, as he managed to beat her to their home. He sensed the noise, barely audible to the human ear, but he heard it. The window slid open with a slight gasp, and she crawled in. She looked over and saw his prone form on the bed, and he barely made out the whites of her eyes against the forbidding darkness. She shed her light combat suit and slid it into the hidden compartment in the wall he knew all too well. She stashed her weapons as well, and crawled into the bed with him. He felt her fingernails play across his chest, and he couldn't suppress a shudder. Her purr of glee at his squirming was almost feral. She guided his hands to her firm, muscled form as she smiled contentedly. She inhaled deeply, savoring the moment, but caught her breath as quickly as she felt the cold press of metal against her neck and the click of a gun being cocked. Her look of total surprise into Heero's eyes was washed away by his emotionless glare.

            "Don't make a move or I'll kill you."

            "Odin…"

            "Don't you Odin me…my name is Heero Yuy."

            "…You're Heero Yuy? But how can that be?"

            "That doesn't matter…you will stop hunting Chang Wufei and his little girl Faith or I'll stop you."

            She laughed a sinister laugh. "But my dearest Heero, you have no idea who you're dealing with." With that, her fingers found the appropriate pressure points, and she incapacitated his arm. He brought his other arm around, but with a quick chop he was out. She looked over his form but couldn't bring her arm around for the killing blow.

            "I can't believe I actually allowed myself to fall in love with you Odin…Heero Yuy. Know this: Fathom _always_ finishes what she starts."


	6. A Chance For Faith

            Heero moaned and opened his eyes. He blinked a bit to adjust them to the sudden darkness, and found the room sacked and all his belongings sifted through. No doubt Fathom was being sure he didn't have any weapons stashed away that he could use on her. He released his numbed arm with a few skilled pressure point hits and threw on his clothes. If he knew Fathom the way he thought he knew her, she would have found his Preventer information, and found a way to track Wufei. He cursed himself silently before grabbing his cell phone and finding it dead. He flipped it over and found that Fathom had taken the battery and broken its receiver. He grimaced…she was as good as he was, before he found he had a heart. He then knew his mission: to break hers.

            Wufei and Faith arrived at Quatre's mansion later that day to be greeted by a bleery eyed Trowa.

            "Barton." Wufei greeted him.

            "Wufei," came the response.

            "Where's Quatre?"

            "He's asleep. He stayed up as late as he could, but he's been under a lot of stress, poor guy's family won't give him a break."

            "You're aware of my situation then?"

            "Completely."

            Trowa ushered them inside before peeking his head out of the giant oak doors and giving the area a quick scan. With a shrug, he turned around and walked inside, even his keen senses didn't pick up the slight shift in the wind.

            Fathom silently opened a window on the building's second floor and crawled inside. She drew her katana and slipped through the building's many shadows and crevices, being as invisible as her training commanded. Like a feral predator, she stalked her quarry, following the sounds of their footsteps and the whispers of their voices. Her slim, muscled body melted into the shadows like water into the sun. The voices were coming closer, and she crouched behind a statue, waiting for the right moment to strike. She flipped the grip on her katana, so that she could dart out and slit their throats. In the darkness she waited.

            "Quatre had these rooms prepared for you, Wufei. I'll be sleeping right down the hall, so call if you need anything, not that you will of course, just yell. This mansion is quite safe." With that, Trowa entered Quatre's room and closed the door. Wufei took Faith inside and helped her into the nightgown she had bought. It was a perfect replica of his kimono, only with blue oriental flowers sewn into the sleeves. He helped her into the large canopied bed with large wooden posts. She smiled at him.

            "I love you, Papa."

Wufei felt a tear drop from his eye, "I love you too, Faith." He heard the rush of air before he felt it, as Faith's scream shattered the night.

            Quatre awoke with a start, and stared into Trowa's already active eyes. Without a word, the two reached into their nightstands and grabbed handguns, and rushed to Wufei's room. They sprang through the opened door and found Wufei battling a tall slender woman, a large katana was buried into the wooden post. She kept making attempts to get to it, but Wufei kept knocking her away with solid kicks. Finally, she grabbed his leg and threw him against a wall. He slumped to the ground, but with a groan, found his way back up to his knees. When he looked up, the point of her katana was poised between his eyes. She was breathing heavily, but aside from that, she was unhurt. Faith screamed and darted from the bed. Trowa tried to grab her, but missed. She stepped between the fallen Chinese and the assassin boldly, even as tears fell.

            "If you're going to kill my Papa, you'll have to kill me first."

            Fathom hesitated. How could a little girl have that much courage to stand up to an assassin. Plus, Wufei wasn't even her father, and she knew this. Could it be that she loves him as a daughter loves her father? Plus, it wasn't in her contract to kill the girl, its Wufei's head they want, not hers. She gazed around the room slowly so as to not draw attention. The other two had guns…not a good situation. Escape was the only option. She eyed a window in the back of the room and gauged the distance. Without a moment's hesitation, she sprang. Quatre and Trowa paused for a moment, this wasn't the move they had expected. Quickly, they jerked their guns into position, but she had already crashed through the window.

            Fathom rolled into her fall, and felt her shoulder dislocate. She swore under her breathe before stabilizing it with her other arm and taking off at a sprint. Bullets whizzed past her head, and she dove into the cover of the trees. When the bullets subsided, she began to reset her arm. With a barrage of obscenities, it was done, and she used some cloth from her suit to hold it in position. With an angry scowl over her shoulder, she trotted off, another opportunity would present itself, for only time could truly tell.


	7. Vengeance

            Fathom stumbled dumbly into a nearby safe house. In her delirium from the pain, she had somehow found her way there. She smirked before hobbling over to the cabinet stocked with medical kits. She pulled out a syringe and a strong strand of cloth. She wrapped her incapacitated arm in a sling and numbed it with a quick injection. She lay back with an angered groan. What had she been thinking? She had Wufei in her grasp! Yet he had eluded her, and all because of his brat, Faith. Fathom shuddered, how could she love him that much? He wasn't even her flesh and blood, yet she protected him. A little girl of no more than twelve had made her hesitate, and in most cases, if those men had been better shots, she would have been a very dead assassin.

She stalked angrily over to the safe house sink, knocking over bottles of god knows what over so that she could wash her face. With her good hand, she brushed off mud that had caked on her face, and swore again and again beneath her breath. Then she felt him. She dropped low to avoid the lunge of his knife. She tripped away blindly; dodging what she sensed was his knife speeding at her. After a few practiced dodges, she finally anticipated his move, and tripped him. She heard the knife clatter away, and sprang. She landed on his chest, driving him into the ground. With a grunt, she knocked the wind out of him and poised herself to chop his neck and end his life. Suddenly, he started laughing. Her eyes widened in surprise as the points of a pair of knives rested against the sides of her neck.

"Don't move or I'll kill you," a voice said coldly.

"Odin…" she breathed.

She saw a flash of teeth, "The one and the same." 

Her eyes darted in the darkness, searching for an escape, "What do you plan to accomplish from this Odin? Surely my life isn't the only thing you're after?"

He grinned again, and she felt the knife point prick a bit deeper, "Perhaps…and then again, perhaps not…"

She gritted her teeth, there had to be a way out of this. "What do you want?"

"I want you to stop stalking Wufei and his girl. Tell your employer to get another to do his dirty work."

She was about to shrug, but thought better of it as the knife points reminded her of their presence, "It matters little to me as to who they are, I'm just in it for the payment."

"They must be paying you a lot to murder an innocent for the sake of a cause."

She smirked, so he knew about it, he probably read the email no doubt. "If you know my employer, you know I can't do that, they'll kill me as easily as they would you."

"I do know they'd turn on you the moment you turned in their prize to them."

"You think I was stupid enough not to expect that, honestly Odin, you underestimate me."

She could almost see the glint in his eyes, "I never overestimate anything."

She could almost see the madness in them there was only one way out of this. She relaxed the chop position of her hand and stroked his cheek before kissing him, long and deep. Surprisingly, he kissed back with almost an animalistic need. The knifepoints relaxed as his arms fell; she heard a clatter of a knife hitting the floor. All the better. Her hand slowly crept towards the nerve column in the neck that would disable _both_ his arms this time. She started to draw her arm back; she could smell her success, then his hand clamped down on her wrist.

She broke their kiss in shock and stared into cobalt eyes and alabaster grin. "Like I said, I never overestimate anything."

Quatre went over to his teakettle and added some more leaves to the mixture; soon they could have tea and discuss plans. Trowa was over with Wufei doing calisthenics, and Duo was playing hide and go seek with Faith. He sighed aloud; this was just like old times. The ring of the doorbell brought everyone out of his or her trances. Quatre walked slowly to the door before looking through the window and opening the door. In the doorway stood a pair of imposing figures; they walked in, one being led along by a chain of ropes. Heero couldn't wipe his smirk at their shocked expressions.

"Wufei, this is Fathom, your resident stalker. Fathom, this is Wufei, no doubt the two of you have met." He handed her leash to Quatre and walked in. The woman's angry eyes followed him, and a series of muffled shrieks escaped her gag. Wufei came over to stare into her eyes, and her defiance was instantly replaced by maybe a shred of fear. "You should have begged him for death, onna. That fate would have been mercy compared to what I have in mind." Her ripple of fear was all the sign he needed.


	8. Taming the Shadow

            Fathom struggled against her bonds and screamed into the darkness. Her world had become blank since Heero stuffed her into Quatre's basement and turned off all the lights. She didn't know the date, or even if it was morning. All she had was the hum of the air conditioner to keep her company…that and Heero's attempts to torture information out of her. Quatre actually brought her tea the other day, which soothed her throat a bit, until she found herself spouting out information that she didn't want to say. Damned truth serums. Maybe Heero would come down and see her so she could insult him some more. That always made her feel better. Faith came down to look upon her once or twice, which strangely fascinated Fathom. It made no sense why the girl would bother to spend time with the woman who was trying to kill her surrogate father, but Fathom was coming to appreciate the little girl's company. Sometimes Fathom brought water or something better than the disgusting gruel Duo kept cooking up. She cringed as she heard the creak of the basement door opening and prepared herself for the day's assaults.

            Heero ducked under the low ceiling leading down to the basement with Duo in tow. Wufei and Faith were upstairs reviewing some local reports on activity in the area. Fathom's employers were no doubt wondering why she had gone radio silent for more than a week. He motioned to Duo to turn on the lights, and turned to face the chair that Fathom was strapped to. The lights flashed on immediately, blinding them all for a few moments before they adjusted. Fathom looked terrible; a wealth of little bruises and half healing cuts littered her face. Her uniform was torn and flayed in a multitude of areas, and her wrists looked chafed where the ropes bound her. Heero shook his head at her injuries and at the woman who refused to be broken.

            She sneered up at them defiantly, "Come for more…fools?" She managed.

            Duo grinned savagely at her, "We've barely begun. Heero and I have devised a new plan. Since you won't give in, we'll pay you off, and send you on your way. He tells me you're a woman of honor, and maybe that'll satisfy you."

            She blinked at him sweetly, "Oh, what a nice venture. Unfortunately I can't accept that. Like he said, I'm a woman of honor, and I always finish a job."

            Heero stepped forward and glared at her, "Can we do nothing to satisfy your greed, woman?"

            She glanced at Heero and looked at him seductively, "Well…there was that thing you could do with your tongue…"

            She bit her cheek as his powerful slap knocked her head sideways. She ignored the buzzing in her ears, "Oh come now, Odin; you slapped harder when we were in bed."

            He wound up to slap her again, then grimaced when Duo doubled over laughing. She turned to gaze at him, "Something funny, Goth boy?"

            He sneered at her, "Only that Heero would bend so low as to sleep with a tramp like you."

            Heero, turned and proceeded to head back up the stairs, "Come on, Maxwell, we aren't getting anywhere with her."

            Duo turned to follow, but looked back over his shoulder at the woman strapped to the chair, "Try not to get lost. It can get lonely in the dark, with no one there to comfort you." With that, the two exited, and the lights were turned off again. Fathom slumped weakly in her chair.

            Heero stalked angrily up the stairs with Duo in tow, and the two propped themselves down next to Quatre, Wufei, and Faith. They looked from the beet red Heero to the strangely smug looking Duo.

            Quatre broke the silence, "So…how'd it go?"

            Heero glared at him, and Duo spoke up, "She's still unbroken. I'm amazed she's lasted this long. Any lesser person would have broken by now."

            Heero closed his eyes, and laid his head against the table in front of him, "She won't break, her training was as intense as mine with the Gundam Engineers. I promise you, we won't be able to break her through normal means."

            Trowa slowly stepped into the room, balancing a pair of long knives on his fingertips. "Then maybe we should try a different approach."

            Heero regarded him uneasily, "What do you mean, Barton?"

            Trowa twirled the knives absently before flinging them at Heero. Heero reacted immediately, catching both knives by the hilts and burying them into the tabletop. Trowa glanced at his knives and at the spectacular catch, "When you can't down a bear with brute force, you must attack it through its senses. Don't forget, Fathom hesitated when Faith was so willing to give her life to protect Wufei."

            Wufei grunted, "I was in no danger there."

            Duo slapped him good naturedly on the back, "Whatever you say, Wubu."

            Wufei glared at Duo out of the corner of his eye before turning his attention back to the acrobat. "So you're saying we should let Faith try to negotiate with her?"

            Trowa shrugged, "It's worth a shot. Maybe she can get Fathom to change her mind."

            The group looked expectantly at Faith, and she sighed, "I don't know what I can do to help, but I'll try."

            Wufei hugged her close, "Just do what you do best, Faith. Show her how much you care."

            She hugged him back just as hard, until Duo started to snicker. "Papa, come with me." The two of them went back to the basement, and entered the cold room.

            Fathom jerked at the sound of the noise, scratching her wrists. Two visits in a day seemed unusual. Maybe Heero was taking her up on the tongue offer… She sighed irritably when she saw Fathom and Wufei in the warm light.

            Fathom stepped closer to her, but she directed her venom at Wufei, "Go away. I have no desire to speak with you."

            Surprisingly, Fathom turned back with a pleading gaze at Wufei, and he actually nodded and turned. The door closed, but the lights remained on, and Fathom turned back to Faith.

            Faith moved so that their faces were only inches apart and stared deeply into Fathom's livid eyes. Strangely, Fathom found herself cringing back from the stare. "I suppose they sent you to get information out of me. Too bad, it isn't going to happen." Fathom managed.

            Faith shook her head, "I only want to talk, nothing more."

            Fathom gulped, "Talk then."

            Faith reached into a deeper pocket in her outfit, and withdrew a bottle of water. "For your troubles." She withdrew a straw as well, and put the water in Fathom's lap, and extended the straw to the assassin's cracked lips.

            Fathom drank the water greedily at first, then sparingly as the bottle's contents slowly vanished. She smiled at the girl, "Well, now we can talk."

            The girl played with her hair absently, "Why do you want to kill my father and I?"

            Fathom had been expecting this, "No offense intended kid, it's just a job. I get paid, and I wax people, it's that simple."

            Faith regarded her with cold eyes, "Taking someone's life is never a simple thing. I know. I saw them take my mother's."

            Fathom had no response for that. "What is it you really want?"

            "I want to know why."

            "I told you, it's a job."

            "That's not the real reason."

            "You're pretty stout for someone who's never killed anyone before."

            "I protected my father where I couldn't protect my mother."

            "Yeah, that's another thing that irks me. Why would you bother to protect someone who isn't even related to you? I mean, you aren't naive enough to think he's really your father, right?"

            "He is my father though. We are connected."

            Fathom laughed wickedly, "No he isn't."

            Faith glared accusingly at her, "Yes he is! He rescued me, and do you want to know the truth? I had no father before him! The day my mother died we were moving because she had no job. I had no Papa to tuck me in at night or read me a story! Even though we look different, Wufei is the closest thing to a father I could ever ask for!"

            Fathom was stunned. "Yet you love him all the same…"

            Tears stung the little girl's cheeks, "I love my papa more than anything."

            Fathom seemed to be in deep thought. "Tell your Papa to whip out his checkbook, we have business to do."


	9. A Life of Lies

            The light…it was so bright. Fathom squinted as she was almost carried on the shoulders of Wufei and Duo out of the basement. In the light, the full extent of her injuries became apparent. Nothing looked broken, but her wrists and ankles were badly chaffed by her bonds, and numerous small bruises and scratches lined her face and the spots where her uniform was torn. Her mane of long brown locks was in disarray, and her normally quick and responsive eyes were red and tired. She looked almost ten years older than she actually was. Quatre almost dropped his tea at the sight, and immediately ran for a medical kit. The worst of her wounds were not difficult to patch up, and she healed fairly fast, so all she declared she would need was a room to herself and some bed rest. Heero happily obliged her, shuffling her up to a secluded room at a more quiet section of Quatre's mansion. He took the long way down, trying to let the redness in his face wear out. That woman was the only one who had ever been able to embarrass him so. He almost made it down the stairs too.

            Duo's head appeared in between a pair of stair posts, "Hiya Heero."

            Heero quickly looked away, "Maxwell."

            "How is she?"

            "…fine."

            "How are you?"

            "…fine."

            "Are you sure?"

            "…yes."

            Duo tapped his chin thoughtfully, "She tried to get you to do the tongue thing, didn't she?"

            If humans could go crimson, Heero was a shining example. "Shut up, Duo."

            Fathom stared blankly at the ceiling above the bed in her rooms. For four days she had slept and stared, thinking to herself. There had to be a way to stop her employers without risking too much harm to everyone else…there had to be a way. No doubt they were wondering where her punctual reports had gone, and if she knew them the way she thought she did, they would be sending search parties shortly. That left only one viable option: be invisible. Not in the conventional invisibility she practiced so often when she stalked her victims, but in a more practical form of invisibility: Invisibility of the identity. She climbed grudgingly out of the bed and found the bathroom at the other end of her bedroom. There was a large bath, a make-up area, and a closet with her bags in it. Heero had thought enough to move them there, how sweet of him. She rummaged through her bags until she found the appropriate containers and accessories, and then she ran the bath water once she had set her items aside. A beautifully calculated scheme was already forming in her mind. As the water soaked away her pain, her thoughts drifted to her life, or lack there of. How stupid she had been, taking this assignment. How stupid she was being for breaking her contract. How foolish she was for letting that little girl get to her. If what she was doing was so wrong, why did it feel so right?

            Heero sat with Wufei and Duo at a small table in Quatre's kitchen and played cards as they waited for breakfast. Quatre and Trowa were fighting over ingredients, and the food was taking a bit longer then expected. Faith was watching her favorite weekday cartoon, and munching on some toast she stole from Quatre's plate earlier that day. None of them noticed the stranger in their midst. She moved fluidly, sinister and serene as she glided by them all. Jaws dropped and stares were fixed upon the woman standing before them. She fixed a stare on Heero and winked.

            "Fa…Fathom?!?!" He stuttered.

            She grinned, "As if you were expecting someone else?" The woman before them no longer had a flowing brown mane of hair, but small ringlets and curls danced from her head. These curls and ringlets were no longer brown, but were mixed with a natural looking blend of reds and blonde tones to produce a natural dirty blonde. Cleverly placed concealer made her skin appear smooth, healthily tanned, and unblemished by injury. Her eyes were no longer an earthy brown, but an emerald green. A new person stood before them, all wrapped up in a simple pair of long flowing pants and a formfitting shirt. She was an epitome of beauty and deadliness, grace and savagery, pleasure and pain. She snapped her fingers to break their stares.

            "Wow, Fathom, I like the new look," Quatre chimed in.

            She glanced at him, "Unfortunately, its not for pleasure," she eyed Heero, who looked away, "but looking like this, I'm sure I can infiltrate my employer's complex undetected."

            They all gave her odd looks. "You're sure you want to do this?"

            She nodded solemnly, "I've made a lot of mistakes in my time. Let me take this chance to make amends. I owe all of you this, and especially Faith for giving me this new chance at life." She winked at the little girl, who winked back.

            Again, Fathom addressed the gathered pilots, "I've analyzed the e-mail system they've been using to contact me. It's simple, but I believe I've tracked it to the source…I'll need some transportation, and some time."

            Quatre looked up from a phone, "I've already called the Preventers, they'll provide you with everything you need."

She almost managed to turn and head for the door, when a hand caught her arm. She turned back to stare into Heero's eyes.

            "I'm coming with you."

            "No you aren't."

            "Yes I am. I still love you Fathom, and I'd hate to see you die alone."

            "How touching."

            "I thought so as well."

            She turned back to the awaiting pilots. "We'll keep you appraised then."

            Heero held open the door for her, and as she stepped through the portal, she hesitated and looked back over her shoulder at the remaining pilots, "Oh, and for the record, Fathom is dead. If I am to begin this new life, then I must begin my _whole_ life anew. If you can find it in your hearts to call me anything, then call me by the name my mother gave me at my birth." She looked them in the eyes bravely, "Before she died, she breathed my name unto my father's lips. Her whisper contained my journey through my false life, and unto this new one. I am Trinity, and I will never fail my friends."


End file.
